This invention relates to the art of electrical measurement, and more particularly to novel apparatus for measuring the time duration or width of an electrical pulse.
In many instances it is important, if not essential, to determine the time duration or width of an unknown electrical pulse with a significant degree of accuracy or to adjust the width of a pulse precisely to some desired value. One exemplary area of use of the present invention is in medical electronics, where pulses indicative of physiological activity are to be inspected and measured, or where pulses employed to stimulate or influence physiological activity are to be controlled accurately.
A practical and economical approach to pulse measurement would be to compare the time duration of an unknown electrical pulse to the time duration of a precise, calibrated reference pulse. This approach should have a capability for handling pulses of considerably different amplitudes and shapes as well as pulses of durations occurring in a considerably wide range.